Aerodrome.



H. Hf ASHLDCK.

ABRODRQMB. APPLICATION FILED APR. e, 1911.

Patented J an. 9, 1,912.`

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Witnesses f Attorneys Inventor 1,014,031. f f i S PATENT" lie,

l Sp'ecieaton of Letters LEatent.l

To @Il whom fit may concern; n i

Be 'it known that I, HENRY-Ii. AsnLocIr, a`

citizen of the'. UnitedStates, `residing atV Kansasv City, in the county of Jackson andy State of Missouri, have invented. ya ynewand and the principalobject of the invention 1s store and maintain the equilibrium of the machlne without the necessity of provldlng 20, can. be raised and lowered relative to the nseful Aerodrome, of which the following lsaspecication.

-. This invention relates to aerodromes orv flying machines of the heavier than air type,

toprovide ay novel `arrangement ofballast depending from the"'.-'centcr of the vmachine and held against swinging in any direction. relative thereto, this Aballast serving to refA balancingplanes such as heretofore devised -for this purpose.`

Another object 1s to provide ballast which.

machine, the'eii'ectiveness of the ballastincreasing in proportion to the distance it is lowered from the machine.

A further object is to provide an arco-- dromethe upper sustaining plane of which pro]eets beyond the lower sustaining plane, `ma loi-plane construction, said upper plane havingv supplemental planes.'A movably conneet'ed 'thereto yand under the control of the aviator, .whereby flight-in an. upward and wfscope Qf downward direction may becontrolled.

A further object is to--provide supplemental planes designed to be shitedrelative to the sustaining plane and to 4cooperate 345, therewith toform4 a parachute whereby, in

the event of the disabling of any ofthe. propelling mechanism of the machine ,or any other vital portion of the strncturepthe machine can be caused to descend gradually. y Another object is to provide improved `st eerir'ig mechanism.' g

With the foregoingvandot-her. objects lin viewV which .will appear as the description proceeds, the. invention resides 4in the geo-mf' binationand arrangemenhof parte and' in; the .details of construction,hereinafterdes4 scribed and claimed, itbeing understood 4that;k changes theprecseembodiment of inventionliereindisclosed. can be inadew-.ithin the what-aisA claimedk without depart-ing emilie 4spirit ofthe invention.l

5111 the? 00011113amine-drawings'*BerreL4 erred. form of theinventon has beenshown.y

speetive 1 view of aI bifplane having, the. .presf ent improvements appliedA thereto, the po- 'of the machine, said -section-'beingfalen from l"front toa-ear. 'Fig ..3 ,isV a fvlewshowing,

- sition of the vballast when;'iv-raised,v`

Adicated by dottedA lines..Y Fig-.2 isl scentral.`

vertical section through the middle :portion diagrammatically, oneineans which may. be

i employed for operating the.. rudders.- Fig 4 is a perspective View of some of lthe sup-1, plemental planes andofone forni o'imechanisni which can` be. util'ized for .shiftingv them. Fig. 5 isa side.elevation.of/onesofthe supplemental planes and a--poltion of the adj aeent Vsustaining plane being; shown in. section, said supplement-al,planes 'abeing locked in closed position. Fig.V ,Gfisa apenspective view.- of the, .side.,su pplemental planes and showing onefo'rinvof,operatingmeans which maybe zused.,.-ingeonneetion' therewith,A

Referring to the figures,bycharactersof :reference 1 designates the lower sustaining` plane of a bi-planeand2 designates the@ upper sustaining plane, said `upper plane! being extended. torwardly, .rearwardly an d Y ao laterally,beyond the lowervplanei v11,1 ,thegtwo i planes being rigidly connected, as.ordinarily,j

by posts 3 or the like.

tation, thisl shaft having: a series otsupplelnental planes 5,; ixedlly. eo'nnectedto-t and spaced` apart atl theirenls sufficient diss-1` tanccs to receive theA p.os ts3. itherebet-Weens The supplemental planes-.5 re, all disposed in alinenient and the saidfplanes,a1-eg.; roe. portioned that, when broiighfntoposition parallel with the posts 3, l .their l upperedge?,

` portions will lie close totheifront `advanc:.

, A shaft 4; is supportedI parallel with the; front' or., ;adrancingffedge ot the upper plane 2 and is mountedfor ro-` supported below -and 'paralleliwitlii the.V rear n edge of the plane 2anysuitable iframe` '(1.3 being provided for this purpose.,; `This lshaft r `is alsoadaptednto,rotateand has a seriesoi a drum 1,2 abontwh'ch they4 arefwoundfaiidf fastened'.

' The shaft 'f the al-ehi Ha'al een supplemental lplanes 8 `fixedlygconnected,to`4 M- fore, that when the lever 16 is operated in one direction, motion will be -transmitted from wheel through the chain or cord 14 to wheel 13 and the drum 12 will therefore l' sides of Asaid' machine, i

be rotated so as to wind. one of the cords 10 and to play out the other cord 10. The planes 5 and 8 will therefore be simultaneously tilted, these planes being maintained constantly parallel. lVhen lever 16 is shifted in the oppo'site direction, the movement ofthe planes is reversed. It is to be understood that these planes can be moved so as to assume any desired positions relative to the horizontal and, in extremey cases, can be shifted so as to swing against the longitudinal edge portions of the plane 2, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 2.

j Side supplemental. planes 17 are mounted between the posts of the machine at the the said planes being extended from front to rear andtheir axes of rotation being located in the same plane with the shafts 4 and 6. Each of these supplemental planes 17 has a cord 18 secured to i the vupper and lower edge portions thereof, said cord being extended over guide sheaves 19 and Wrapped about an operating drum l20 to-which 1t is connected. 'This-drum may vbe operated by any suitable mechanism, such vas indicated generally at 21 in Fig. 6, it

being apparent that when the drum is rotated in` one direction the supplemental planes 17 4will be simultaneously tilted so as to bring their up r edges into contact with the projecting slde edges of the upper sustaining plane 2. The space between the ends of the side supplemental planes -17 and the front and '-back supplemental lanes.5 and 8 may be closed by strips of abrio or the like such as shown at 22.

Under normal conditions the planes 17 are to b e held in the same plane but, when 1t is desired to produce a parachute for the purpose of retarding the downward movement of the machine when control thereof has been lost, these planes 17 are to be swung' against the ends of the upper sustaining plane 2, thus coperating with the planes 5 been similarly shifted t and 8 which have relative to the upper ,sustaining plane, tol restrain and deflect the air after the fashion of the parachute. Under normal conditions, and with thetwo supplemental planes 17 .lying in the same plane, said supplemental planesv w-illnot interfere with the movements of the machine. The planes 5 and 8 can, however, be simultaneously tilted so as to elevate the machine during its forward Hight. If desired, latches such as have been, may be arranged in the paths.

indicated at 23 of the planes 5,8 and 17 so that when they It will bel apparent, there-v 'inO" s )ars 25 )rovided p arms 29 at the center thereof and ,the planes and therefore lock them automatically when closed against the upper sustaining plane.

The aeroplane structure includes, as ordi-..

narily forwardly and rearwardly convergwith any suitable arrangement of braces'an'd a frame 26 extends between the spars at the front and the rear ends thereof, each frame having laterally extending trunnions 27 bearing withinthe spars. A vertical rudder 28 extendsthrough each frame 26 and is mounted to swing about an axis extending through the centers of the upper and lower portions of the frame, said vertical rudder having laterally extending being provided, at its 'upper and lower edges with horizontal rudders 30. Cords or Wires 31 extend from the arms 29 on one rudder and are wrapped about and secured to a drum 32,

said cords being mounted on suitably arranged.

guide sheaves 33. The cords extending to one of the vertical rudders are crossed so that, when the drum' 32 is rotated in one direction, the two vertical rudders will be simultaneously swung in opposite directions within their`frames 26. Each of the frames 26 has cords 34 connected to the upper and lower portions At-hereof -and extending -to and wrapped about a drum 35, the cords extending from one of the crossed so that, when the drum is rotated in one direction, the two frames 26 will be simultaneously tilted in opposite directions :thus changing the angles of incidence of the.

horizontal rudders.

The drums 32 and 35 can be operatedby any suitable mechanism provided for that purpose, the means shown in Fig'. 3 consisting of an actuatihg wheel 36 connected, as by means of a chain 37 or the like, to a 'smaller wheel 38 revoluble with thedrum. It is to be understood, however, that any other desired means may'be provided.'

frames being,

The machine is provided with one or more propellers 39 of the usual or any preferred4 type and it is designed to provide two motors for driving the propellers, one of the motors being operated while' the other is at rest. l

These motors have been indicated at L10.

It will be apparent from the foregoing description that by simultaneously tilting the horizontal rudders the machine can be directed upwardly or downwardly while in Hight and the vertical rudders, by being shifted, serve to steer the machine The front and back-supplemental planesI 5 and 8 can also be utilized for the purposeof steering the machine upwardly and downwardly. Should any vital portion ofthe machine become broken or otherwise. dislaterally.

abled, a too rapid descent of the machine can be prevented by shifting the supplemental y 1,014,031 l l i :ft euppersustaiiiin This ballast consists of a stem 41,preferably tubular and which is slidably mounted within 'the upper and lo'wer sustaining planes 1 and 2 at the center of gravity, this stem being prefrably mounted within reinforcing rings 42 "secured -to the planes and braced by any suitable means provided for that purpose.

A weight 43 is secured to the lower end @portion of the stem and a lifting-cable 44 1Q;- the like'is connected to the weight and `extends u wardly to a windlass 45 arranged plose tot e aviators'seat, this cable being -llnounted on guide sheaves 46 arranged in myylnanner desired. A ratchet wheel 47 rotates with the windlass land a pawl 48 nor-- mally engages said wheel so as to hold the ,cable against unwinding from the windlass. It is to be understood that before a fiight, the vstein l41 is to be elevated by winding -eable144on the windlass 45, thus bringing the'weigh't 43 close tothe lower sustaining lplane 1. AAfter the'machine has .left the ground, the aviator releases the ratchet `wheel 47, thus permitting the cable to un- Wind from the windlass and allowing the weight 43 to descend until the vstem 41 has moved 'downwardly as far as desired. ,As the stem cannot swing relative to the' sustaining planes, it will beobvious, that the 1 Weightwhen thus lowered, will operate to maintain -the equilibrium of the machine under normal conditions and to promptly `restore the equilibrium whenever the majchi'neistilted in any direction from any cause. When the machine descends, the 'weight'can beheld oi' of the ground by windin the cable 44 on the windlass 45. The ba last will not, therefore, prevent the machine from making a per-feet landing.

Itv is to be understood that the aerodrome is to be provided with supporting wheels or skids such as ordinarily employed but, for the sake of clearness, vthey have not been illustrated in the drawings.

v As heretofore stated the stem 41 is preferably tubular. In order, however, to re- Pliers-2. u shifting said 'suppl we, ioni-.fifths eil-:inerme 4 pete mounted to swing about axes extending transversely of the line of flight, means for simultaneously closing said planes against the front and back edges of the sustaining plane, and means tor locking the supplemental planes in closed positions.

3. An aerodrom'e including a sustaining plane, supplemental planes arranged below the front and back edges of the sustaining plane, means for tilting said supplemental planes simultaneously to steer the machine in'an upward or downward direction, said supplemental planes being movable to positions substantially`at right angles to path of movement of the sustaining plane, and means for automatically locking the supplemental planes when brought to said positions at' right angles to the path of the sus-` taining plane.

4. An aerodrome including a sustaining plane, supplemental planes below the front and back edges ofthe sustaining plane,`sup- -plemental planes below the side edges of the sustaining plane, and separate means for shifting the front and back and the side supplemental planes' to positions substantially perpendicular to the path of movement of the sustaining plane to coperate with said sustaining plane and form a parachute.

5. An aerodrome including a sustaining plane, supplemental planes below the front and back edges of the sustaining plane, supplemental planes below the side edges of the sustaining plane, and means for shifting the front and back and the side supple- QIT meglneludi lletammgi' plane, front 'and'ba'ck 'supplemental planes to Vforint mental planes to positions substantially perpendicular to the path of movement of the sustaining plane to coperate with said sustaining plane and form a parachute.

.6. An aerodromey including a sustaining plane, supplemental planes below the front and back edges of the sustaining plane, supplemental planes below the side edges of the x sustaining plane, and means for shifting the front and back and the side supplemental planes to positions substantially perpendicular to the path of movementl of the sustaining plane to coperate with said sustaining plane -and form a arachute, and means for automatically locking the supplemental planes when shifted against the sustaining plane.

' f1. A n aerodrome including a. sustaining plane, supplemental planes 'below the front,

rear and side edge ortions thereof, and separate means for s ifting the front and rear, and `the side supplemental planes respectively to coperate with the sustaining plane to form a parachute.

8. An aerodrome including a sustaining plane, supplemental planes below the front,

rear and side edge portions thereof, separate means for shifting the front and rear, and the side supplemental planes res vtively to coperate with the sustaining p ane to form a parachute,- and .shifting said supplem ante means for. automatically locking supplemental lanes when shifted.

9.'An aer ome including .a sustaining plane, supplemental planes mounted for rotation below the side, frontand'rear portionsl of the sustainixtallxlane, means for lanes to coperate with the sustaining p ane to form a parachute, and. means suspended below and held against swin A'ng movement relative to the sustainin p ane for maintaining the equilibrium o l said sustaining plane.

In ltestimon that I claim the fregoing as my own, I ave hereto allixed my signature 1n the presence of twowitnesses.

. HENRYH'. ASHLOCK Witnesses: I

FRANK B. Ocnsnnnm'rnn, LENA WILLSON.4 n

e respective 

